Shokuton no Naruto
by Kurogane7
Summary: AU: After being chased into Training Ground 44, Naruto gains the ability to use an ability that predated the Mokuton of Senju Hashirama. With these powers and that of an ancient bloodline, he will use these powers to protect nature and his loved ones. A story based on "First Male Nin", and a fusion of "Konoha no Kensei" and "Shizen no Shinobi". Mass Naru-harem.
1. Megami

**_A/N: I activate the ability of the Field Spell card 'Fusion Gate", banish two Story monster cards, and fusion-summon This Story! It's rather rough as this is the first time I've fused stories together, but I hope the merge will be more seamless in the future. This will still be a "First Male Nin" story, which will be done in a different way from Nightmares Before Winter's version. Either way, do read and review would you kindly?_**

…

{Play: "Afternoon of Konoha" by Toshiro Masuda from "Naruto"}

[Chiba Orphanage, Konohagakure no Sato, 1:30 PM]

It was a bright and sunny day in the village of Konohagakure no Sato. Clear skies with few clouds, a gentle breeze gliding through the trees; all in all, it was a very peaceful picture that was painted given the beautiful day. A good sign, given that the Kyūbi no Yoko had attacked no more than five years ago. Many kunoichi were slain in the battle alone, and it wasn't until the Yondaime Hokage Namikaze Mina came around that the problem was dealt with, and at the expense of her own life and that of her wife Uzumaki Kushina. As a result of this, many orphans were left behind from the disaster, the Chiba Orphanage being one of them…but it is at this time of day that Megami liked to spy on her favorite subject via the trees nearby. "C'mon Naruto-kun! How about another round?" urged a young girl with buns in her hair, carrying a thick branch in her hands, "You were actually doing quite well there, considering that your stick is thicker and heavier than mine!"

The boy she was talking to had spiky blond hair, eyes the color of the sea, and six whisker-marks on his face. In his hands, he carried a thick branch with a wider diameter than hers. The two of them were bruised, and were trying to take up swordplay by themselves. Both the boy and the girl were covered in bruises and were panting; a testament to their victories against each other. Sitting near the two combatants was a girl with shoulder-length black hair done up in a pigtail with cute wide eyes watching over the entire spectacle. "Yeah, well, I want to be able to use a weapon no matter its weight Tenten," answered Naruto between breaths, "and so I want to be able to train to the point where I won't get tired as easily when using a sword."

Tenten simply let out a bit of an amused huff as she looked at Naruto with a smile. "You do realize that boys can't be kunoichi right? And besides, what would a kunoichi want to do with a really heavy sword? It's all about speed!"

What she said was true; only women were able to utilize chakra and so they were a part of the armed forces. Men on the other hand only had the chakra coils, but could not make use of the chakra contained, and it is for that reason that clan heads were required to be married to another kunoichi and utilized a jutsu to temporarily grant one of the women male genitalia to pass on the ability to use chakra. Any boys born of this union were often disowned or turned into servants to continue the family line.

"Whatever!" scoffed Naruto, before his eyes had widened in realization, "Ah! By the way, before we continue, I have a surprise for you and Lin."

{Play: "Kansha" by RSP from "Bleach"}

A look of confusion had suffused on the faces of the two girls as they walked towards their friend. Naruto on the other hand propped his branch against himself before digging through his pockets and then pulling the contents of each out before the two of them in closed fists. Upon turning his palms upward, he opened his hands, revealing a pair of hand-carved wooden netsuke of different designs; the one in front of Tenten was in the form of an adorable little boxwood mouse holding a ball in its mouth, and the other for Lin was flat and boxlike, but had a lotus motif engraved upon its black pine surface.

Lin's already wide eyes had grown to the size of saucers upon seeing this, and the two of them picked up their respective gifts. "Naruto-kun, did you make these?"

A nod was his response to Lin's question, before Naruto pulled out his own netsuke—the subject of this one was of a fox chasing its tail. "Took me a lot of cuts before I got the technique right, but I did it. I hope that these would be good symbols of friendship between the three of us; that, and Happy Birthday Tenten!"

What came next had caused his mind to blank out due to the sudden and quick movement that the two girls utilized. One moment, their hands were had moved to pocket their gifts, and the next they were both sandwiching him between them in a hug while pecking him in the cheek affectionately. "I'll treasure this gift forever Naruto-kun," began Lin, blushing to herself at her own audacity.

"And so will I," added Tenten, grinning innocently at her friend, "now if you're ready, we're going to go for another round!"

Naruto said nothing, but simply got in a ready stance before the two of them resumed their duel. Little did the three of them know that they were being observed from afar; there was not a trace of doubt in the onlooker's eyes as she watched the three friends sparring with each other, play-fighting the day away. This boy was the one Megami had been looking for all this time…she could only hope that he was the one!

…

{Play: "Bad Situation" by Toshiro Masuda}

[Outskirts of Training Ground 44, two years later—October 13, 10:43 PM…]

Sensing the disturbance that was going on outside the forest, Megami opened her eyes through another tree to set her gaze on Uzumaki Naruto running down the street. She'd seen many things in her long life, some things significant, and others more mundane: the creation of the world by her sister tree, her subjugation and sealing by the Rikudō Sennin, the argument of her daughters, and even the great battle between Senju Hashirama and Uchiha Madara. She had also recently seen the unprecedented—the Bijū Kurama was attacking the village of Konohagakure no Sato. Oh she'd seen the events leading up to the beast's release, and she wasn't surprised that the bitch was mind-controlled this easily…if you were lucky and your timing was right with the Sharingan, you could mind-control that nine-tailed hussy (which just so happened to be easy to do the first time because she was in heat). It saddened her that this had to happen because Uzumaki Kushina, a girl who visited her often after the day she came from Uzugakure no Sato, had died to protect her own seedling.

She happened to like Kushina-chan a lot, even having silent conversations with her whenever she visited her neck of the woods—the Jinchūriki of that slutty fox Kurama was actually an interesting girl, very energetic and respectful (it was unknown if the girl was aware that she was talking to a shinboku). Megami also agreed with her choice on life-partners—Namikaze Mina was a girl that agreed with Hashirama-chan's Will of Fire and, were she human, a good lover. It really touched her heart when parents would protect their seedlings from certain death, and it was exceptionally so in the case of those two. Because of her respect for Mina-chan and her love of Kushina-chan, Megami silently promised to uphold the former's request to see their son Naruto as a hero.

Unfortunately, human nature had not surprised the ancient cedar the slightest bit for the past millennia; she knew that the stupid humans of this village outnumbered the intelligent ones. She was also aware of the corruption that had been rotting away in the heart of the village she once loved; that Hashirama-chan and Tobirama-chan had given their lives to defend against the likes of skanky, power-hungry hags like Madara-hentai. Megami watched through the trees planted in the village as young Uzumaki Naruto was chased around by an ignorant mob from his home in the red light district to the Shi no Mori as part of their 'fox hunts'. In her eyes, their 'beloved Yondaime Hokage" was spinning in her grave at this outrage as she watched; and yet, it was something she'd been waiting for seven years to happen, ever since Hiromi-baka's ill-planned decision to tell the ignorant populace that Naruto-kun held that whore in his gut. Granted, she didn't want Naruto to come to the training ground in this fashion, but who was she to question the will of the divine—silent as they tended to be these days?

Megami simply waited and watched as Naruto managed to climb the fence and get to the other side before running into the forest. Perfect! "Don't bother chasing it in there," said a man, obviously the leader of this year's mob, "that there is the Shi no Mori…kunoichi go there for training. That thing is as good as dead now that he's run in there, but to make sure the job is taken care of, I have some friends who are willing to go in there to make sure that the demon-brat dies tonight!"

Cheers had erupted from the crowd as people heard this. Megami could only smile to herself as she saw the Hokage arrive, causing the celebratory air of the mob to die down at her next words. "ANBU, arrest everyone in this crowd and take them to Ibuki!" she shouted, "Inu and Hebi, I want you take a team to the training ground to find Naruto…if you find the kunoichi on the take, kill them on sight in as messy a manner as you like. Neko and Tora, I want the two of you to make sure that Mishima Gidō does not escape; I will deal with him shortly!"

The crowd then began to disperse in an attempt to avoid getting arrested and taken to Morino Ibuki. Meanwhile, Inu and Hebi organized a team of ANBU with them to commence the search for Naruto, with all the clan heads sans Uchiha Fukuko volunteering to help track the boy down before they ran into the forest, sending silent prayers to whatever deity would listen for Naruto's safety. It was at this point that Megami watched as Mishima Gidō held his head up high in arrogance even while being detained by the ANBU. "I did what you were too cowardly to do, Hokage-sama," he said, venom lacing his tone, "if you want to kill me for your own faults, then do it! I'm ready! I've done my work in avenging my family, my business, and everyone else who was lost because of the demon that you are too afraid to kill!"

"Kill you?" asked Hiromi, a mocking tone in her voice, "No, I'm not going to kill you. Not when I should be rewarding you for your _**heroics**_, Councilman Mishima. In fact, you've done such a good job that I think I should be rewarding you for your…_**initiative**_ in doing what I was _**too cowardly**_ to do—starting with not killing you."

This left Gidō gob-smacked upon hearing that last sentence. The Hokage was going to reward him for killing the demon-brat? What the hell was going on here? "I'm pretty sure you're wondering what your reward is," continued Hiromi, a sinister smile creasing the corners of her mouth, "after all, it's very certain that Shimura-fujin is a very lonely woman after I broke up with her long ago, and I have no doubt that she would love to know that you agreed to take her out on a _**date**_…after telling her about your _**showing me the error of my ways**_, of course."

Now this really left Gidō pale with fear as all life left his body. While in terms of appearance, Shimura Sango was a crippled, elderly woman that had aged quite well, with a cold and serious aura about her that both enchanted and terrified men and women alike (in short, she was a cougar); that was all a façade to anybody that crossed her in any way…truth be told, among the few people thus far that had escaped the woman's wrath aside from the little monster for some reason was the Hokage herself, and that was because it was a well-known fact that she was once her girlfriend (until the both of them competed for the Hokage hat) and was still on speaking terms with her. That was even worse than getting punished by the Hokage herself! "Buta, Ushi," barked Hiromi, turning his attention to the two ANBU restraining the terrified councilman, "make sure the _**esteemed councilman**_ is not late for his date, and be sure to tell Shimura-fūjin exactly what he did."

Watching as the two ANBU dragged away the limp form of Mishima Gidō, Hiromi could not help but wonder as to what her ex would do to the arrogant fool, but decided against it…whenever Shimura Sango decided to take revenge, it was never pleasant. Although, for some reason, she could not help but wonder as to what she had on mind—the Sango she knew would not do anything on a whim, much less for a little boy she barely knew, and so it was no surprise that Hiromi had suspicions of ulterior motives on the part of her former lover when she was counted among those who voted against Naruto's execution. Come to think of it, she was rarely ever seen in public, and yet there was a time she caught her treating Naruto as if he were a wayward grandchild whenever she went out for her daily walks in the park. And it didn't help detract any suspicion from her when it was one of her ROOT operatives that came and informed her of the mob tonight. Yes, something was definitely wrong with this picture, and Hiromi intended to find out what it was…but now was not the time, and so she'd have time to question Sango later even if she had to bring out the kinkiest sex toys she had to find out.

As she turned her attention back to the forest, the Sandaime Hokage prayed to any deity listening that Naruto would survive this night…

…

{Play: "Evil" by Toshiro Masuda}

[Somewhere in the Shi no Mori]

He'd been running for the past hour or so, but Naruto knew he'd been pursued by kunoichi. They were probably among the bad ones, but he was so busy on making his escape that didn't recognize any of the ones who were chasing him. Unfortunately, even though he knew he could run for a long time, he also knew that he couldn't keep running all night long—he'd barely managed to escape by the skin of his teeth after that last attack!

At this point, Naruto found himself in a clearing, panting with weariness; it wasn't long until he picked up the scent of something sweet in the air before his knees turned to jelly and his eyes had become too heavy to keep open. Three seconds was all it took for young Uzumaki Naruto to slump to the ground asleep—he only hoped that the kunoichi chasing him wouldn't find him here.

When it was certain that the coast was clear, and that the young jinchūriki was not going anywhere, a tall and effeminate form took careful steps forward while remaining in the shadows and camouflage in the trees. This was most definitely not the way she wanted to meet Naruto; no, not at all…but then again, what did it matter how he came to her neck of the woods? He'd come, and that was all that mattered. All other thoughts pushed out, the figure reached out long arm, scooping up Naruto into the palm of her wooden hand, and took him away…he would not be seen again for a while.

…

{Play: "Kaedesirabe-II" by Mamoru Samuragoch from "Onimusha"}

[Elsewhere in the Shi no Mori—fifteen minutes later…]

Inu and Hebi quickly leaped through the foliage…hoping that they were not too late in saving Naruto with Pakkun and a large number of the former's ninken leading the search. Their search party included Itachi, Kuma, Usagi, and Washi, along with the clan heads, all of whom were rather good trackers or would aid in adding an extra set of eyes. "You really think we're going to make it in time?" asked Hebi, briefly turning her attention to her colleague.

"I really hope we do," growled Inu, the rage shown in her heterochromic eyes behind her mask, "as much as I'd hate to admit it, those bastards got us good; waiting for the two of us to be out of town on a mission, distracting the Hokage with mountains of paperwork, attacking in the middle of the Kyūbi Festival where it's the loudest, there is no doubt that this was planned well. The only salvageable thing about this situation is that our mission was not that hard—and so we were able to get back quickly."

It was true—due to the amount of hatred leveled against the boy, among the only kunoichi that Sarutobi Hiromi could honestly trust with all her life (with kami-sama above as her witness) on his protection were Hebi and Inu…both of whom had taken in Naruto after he was kicked out of the orphanage nearly two years ago. Granted, she could've picked any woman in the village to take care of him given his hidden importance to the village (due to his popularity with at least 85-90% of the village's women both civilian and kunoichi alike), but these two were among her most trusted. That and the two of them had personal reasons to protect the boy beyond being among the people that just plain loved him.

"Don't worry about it Hatake," reassured Tsume, running up next to them, "I'm pretty sure he's fine. We've just got to make sure we get to him before any of those bitches do…in fact, I'm pretty sure we've eliminated most of the competition."

"Out of curiosity, why are all the clan heads coming out to aid us?" asked Inu, conclusions being drawn prematurely in her head. She had a pretty good idea as to the why, but she wanted to hear it from their mouths.

"Believe it or not, we were friends with Mina-sama and Kushina-sama when they were alive," answered Chiaki, keeping her normal deadpan expression, "like the majority of the clan heads, we all owe the boy's parents in one way or another. And besides, this is to return a favor to him—ever since he accidentally turned up in the Hyūga compound, things seem to be getting better in my family: Nori's outlook on life has improved, Hinata's confidence has been boosted, and Hanabi adores him."

Tsume chuckled. "Are those the only reasons? I'm pretty sure your youngest pup isn't the only one that adores him…last I saw of him in your compound, I'm pretty sure Hinata _**and**_ Nori were looking at him the same way!" Now this elicited a blush from the closet-pervert she knew as her former-teammate. Seeing this opportunity to lighten the mood a bit, especially after watching Chiaki nearly trip over herself, Tsume decided to also add one more target to the list. "And I'm pretty sure your clan compound's not the only one he visited…was it Shizu?"

There was no change in Aburame Shizu's pace…but a cute, embarrassed red skin tone was all it took for her to confirm Tsume's claim. "I invited him to my compound after one of the supermarkets literally booted him out into the street. I had some of my kikaichū scare off a bunch of idiotic men that were about to stomp him to death. Apparently, he was trying to buy some sugar for a recipe he was going to try out, and so I gave him a small jar of our clan's honey as a sample so that he could buy from us later. Needless to say, when Chō invited us to her restaurant to try out a dish that Naruto made, I was floored. I can only assume that I'm not alone in wanting him to marry into my clan, now that you mention it."

"As much as I'd like to hear about everyone's encounters with Naruto-kun, I think we should get the troublesome mission done first," interrupted Nara Chikako, bringing everyone's attention back to the present, "and while we're on the subject of that dish he made, I take credit for that venison he used—who would've thought that a six-year-old could cook this well? I swear; if I can't get Shika-chan to marry him, then I'm pretty sure Yoshino wouldn't mind sharing him with me."

Pakkun stopped at an area with Kuromaru sniffing around at the area. "The trail ends here," said the pug, continuing to sniff before turning to face his contract holder, "Kasumi, it looks like a struggle took place here."

The kunoichi in the area began searching the scene, trying to determine exactly what happened here. "I'm smelling traces of heiwa koke spores in the area," began Inu, starting to swagger ever-so-slightly, "the trail is not so cold that I can't tell what happened here, but I wouldn't recommend lingering."

"Heiwa koke?" asked Usagi, sincerely concerned about the situation they found themselves in.

"It's a very rare species of moss," stated Yamanaka Inoko, greatly worried by the implications, "but this is impossible, because it grows in Iwagakure. True, we do have a hardier and subspecies that we cultivate in our neck of the woods, but **_real_** heiwa koke is not used as an anesthetic so much as it is used for a sedative—and a powerful one at that. After the Third Shinobi World War, Iwa had set up a trade embargo, and so when all our samples of the moss died off, we had no supply of them and were forced to develop other sedatives for medical use."

Upon hearing this, Inu turned her attention to Pakkun. "Do you still have Naruto-kun's scent trail? Is Iwa responsible for this?"

"No," answered the pug, no doubt frustrated in the lack of progress, "whomever it was that took Naruto away from here masked his scent. I'm picking up nothing but cedar all around, and I really don't want to risk going in any further; the trail up ahead is thick with spores. "

"And besides, even if we did try to isolate that scent, it's like finding a needle in a haystack," added Kuromaru, "Whomever it was that was here before us undoubtedly has a major head-start over us. That, and if it were Iwa that kidnapped Naruto, they wouldn't be going deeper into the Shi no Mori."

A sigh of disappointment and self-loathing had escaped from both Hebi and Inu. They'd failed in their mission…but in a way, they were glad that they did fail. "It's no use tracking him down like this any further," began Inu, depression clear in her voice, "in a way though, I'm glad that Naruto-kun has been kidnapped—I only hope that his kidnapper would treat him well. But don't think for a second that I've given up the search…I'll come back, and I won't stop until I find him!"

For once, Hebi honestly could not think of anything to say, as Inu had already said what was on her mind. The two of them would search the Shi no Mori for the boy that they truly loved with all their hearts, and come hell or high water, they would find him!

…

{Play: "Mononoke Hime" by Joe Hisaishi from "Princess Mononoke"}

[Somewhere in the Shi no Mori—morning…]

Naruto awoke to the sunlight assaulting his eyes. As he took in his surroundings, he realized that he was in a clearing within the forest, having laid upon a bed of leaves. What immediately caught his eye was the massive tree in front of him. It was so large that he wondered immediately as to the identity of the one that planted it here, as well as the amount of nutrients in the soil for it to have grown so large. Other details he managed to make out of the tree were the insane amount of seals inscribed upon its bark…it seemed to add an archaic sense of beauty to the ancient tree.

"You like what you see?" asked a feminine voice, approaching from around the tree. Naruto saw that its owner was a tall, humanoid figure—the form of this figure resembled a fit and well-proportioned woman somewhere around the age of 30, and stood around six meters tall. Her legs were made of lithe tree trunks that eventually merged in the middle to form the hips, and strong branches built up the arms which ended in dangerous-looking digits; all of which were twisted around to resemble the musculature of an athlete. Her firm-looking breasts were generous, just shy of a G-cup while resting above a strong abdomen. On her head was a pair of short, antler-like protrusions that branched out in imitation of a crown, giving this woman an overall regal and cervine appearance about her—her heart-shaped face was framed by what appeared to be willow-like branches that went down to her hips, bringing out the inner beauty shown by her loving smile as she gazed upon him with an amber-colored energy coursing through her body and flowing from the holes in her face where her eyes would be. "It is said that this tree predates the Rikudō Sennin herself…and that Senju Hashirama had once come here to perfect the Mokuton she'd invented."

"W-who are you?" stuttered Naruto, still afraid of the woman before him.

The beauty came to a stop in front of him, that loving grin still on her face. "There's no need to be afraid Naruto-kun," she said, surprising him that she knew his name in the first place, "nobody's going to hurt you here…not as long as I breathe. As to what you may call me, I am Megami—a tree spirit if you will. My true body is the tree that you have just seen."

He could not believe it, this woman was a tree-spirit? As he studied the being even closer, Naruto could see the proof before him; her entire body was a gestalt of living trees, to the point where he could see that her body stood not upon a pair of feet, but roots that extended from her calves and into the ground. He even noted that there were several parts of her upper body, where the odd leafy branch had sprouted from her on top of her shoulders and outside her arms…and to his embarrassment, he also saw splotches of moss around her roots, on her shoulders, and on the lower part of the junction where both of her legs met. Say what you will, but to Naruto, this was a very-much naked woman. However, one question popped into the forefront of his mind: "How did you know who I am?"

Megami's chuckle spoke volumes of her amusement. "Being a tree as old as I am, I've seen many things happen: Hashirama-chan's battle with that whore Madara, Hiromi-baka's term as Sandaime Hokage, and even the circumstances of your birth. Hence why I know your name…because I've been watching everything—but most importantly, I've been watching you. Your willpower seems to be stronger than even your mothers could have foreseen."

This tree was watching everything? If so then he may as well… "You have questions, and I will answer them in time," began Megami, interrupting Naruto's train of thought, "but before I do, I have a request to ask of you."

Naruto remained silent…taking this as a cue to go on, Megami gently reached forward with her palm down and in front of his face. It was here that he knew that she wanted to give him something, and so he cupped his hands together under the tree spirit's gigantic hand.

Once she saw he was ready, a small spherical object started growing out from Megami's palm before dropping it into Naruto's waiting hands. "This seed requires that it be planted in a living body. Whether it is eaten or planted in your bloodstream, it will grow quickly on your chakra pathways. This is the only way I can reproduce—and by doing this you'll become my son. However, before you take this seed within your body, I must caution you that either way, there's no turning back. If it accepts you, then you will become one with the tree and I shall teach you to wield its power as the guardian of the forest."

"And if it doesn't?"

Her face had turned very sorrowful. She'd done this multiple times, and they all ended in failure—and she knew it. But Megami wanted to make sure Naruto knew the consequences of what he was about to do. "If the seed rejects you, then you'll simply become another tree in the forest. I've given other people my seed, hoping that one day someone will be accepted by it, and my heart's been broken because many men and women that have found me and that I have loved without question, have been devoured by that seed. Do you want to do this Naruto-kun?"

{Play: "Jinchūriki" by Takanashi Yasuharu}

The boy sat down to think long and hard about this. Did he really want to do this? Did he have anything to lose? Naruto then thought back to all the women that treated him well…of Inu and Hebi always making sure he was safe; of Chiaki-sama's hospitality; Sango-sama's grandmotherly love; so many memories that he had both good and bad and memories he wanted to make. But then again, what had he done to deserve such kindness? How did he repay them? How could he repay them? It was at this moment that he had made up his mind—guardian of the forest or not, he would work to repay the ones who treated him well. With resolution empowering his hand, Naruto took the seed from Megami-sama's hand graciously before he quickly popped it into his mouth. A single swallow was all it took to seal his fate—and the last thing he would remember of that moment was the pain that would have him thrashing around over the course of the next day…

…

**_A/N: And that's a wrap. I hope this fusion monster survives the first round of this duel otherwise I'll be taking more battle-damage than I hoped. Your reviews will determine if I should continue this or not, but either way, I promise that after chapter 2, the merging will be more seamless. So do read and review, would you kindly?_**


	2. Past and Present

_**A/N: And now we get onto the second chapter...and only nine reviews so far. Do people not have anything to say, or are they too shy? In any case, it seems I've taken battle-damage so far in the the duel, but it's not too bad, assuming I get more reviews in the future. The merging is rough for now, but I do promise it'll get smoother in the future. In any case, do read and review would you kindly?**_

…

{Play: "Four Brave Heroes" by David Orr from "Castle Crashers"}

_Long before the Age of the Kunoichi, the entire world was engulfed in sporadic wars that ravaged the land._

_Daimyō from all the nations fought to unite the world under their rule with the many samurai warriors at their disposal. In those days, the women who would become the kunoichi were few in number and were mercenaries that pledged loyalty only to those who paid them well—primarily being relegated to scouting and assassination missions._

_The creature known even then as the Jūbi was seen as a god that reveled in the constant state of war that the then-Samurai Nations found themselves in, and was entertained by the wanton death and destruction wrought upon the people by what would be known in history books as the Sengoku Jidai._

_It is from this period of turmoil that many names would rise from the fires of the war and become heroes, but only two individuals would go on to become legendary._

_One started a religious movement that would change the world. Her discovery and studies into the mystical energy known as chakra would empower the women who wielded such power a prominent place in the future, and turned her into the world's first and original "Kunoichi no Megami." After defeating and sealing the Jūbi within her, she would use its body to create the moon, and become known with love and reverence by kunoichi all over the world as the Rikudō Sennin._

_The other name that rose to prominence from this era is one that is met with admiration by what remains of the samurai. With his skill and quick learning curve, it was said that this rōnin once trained under the great samurai swordsman Yagyū Munetoshi to become the ultimate swordsman under the sky. A veteran of many battles and an undefeatable duelist, the mere utterance of his name would strike fear in the hearts of kunoichi from beyond the grave to this day; and his name was Miyamoto Musashi._

_These two names would one day clash, and their duels from that day on would be the stuff of legend. Many know that their matches have never ended with a definitive winner, but few people will know the true connection between them. Our story begins in the land now known as Nadeshiko no Sato…_

…

{Play: "Vagabond" by James Venable from "Samurai Jack"}

[Nadeshiko no Sato, centuries ago…]

The night sky was very lovely at the moment; there were few clouds in the sky, and the stars were shining brightly. The sound of crickets punctuated the air, as a lone and barefoot rōnin traversed the plains with a bokken and an eku slung on his back. His hair was pulled back into a topknot that ended in what could be described as a broom, and he had two stripes on his cheeks. While his torso was bare, he wore armored sleeves, a pair of tied-up and tattered hakama, shin guards, and a kusa-zuri around his waist with three wakizashi slung on both sides of his waist. The rōnin wanted to leave the camp for a bit…the celebrations for the victory in today's battle had died down, with him having had more than his fair share of sake after the drinking contests he'd been challenged to by many of the greenhorns. And besides, he couldn't sleep—so he might as well take a walk for some fresh air, thinking about the battle earlier with every inebriated step he took.

It wasn't easy, but the land was starting to stabilize again once the battle was over. He was among a number of rōnin mercenaries hired early in the latest Mizu no Kuni civil war by Toyotomi Hideyoshi to fight against his former comrade and student Tokugawa Ieyasu. The fortress he and the task force he was assigned to were charged with assaulting was practically impenetrable, but he was no fool and suggested that reconnaissance be done before charging in—his asshole commander, being the arrogant fool that he was, ignored his suggestion; the upstart brat thought that this was a game! No doubt he had command due to his father being a general and he himself being well-off if the spoiled brat were able to afford this many rōnin. As much as he needed that paycheck (which would of course be distributed among the other mercenaries should any of them die), he was against unnecessary deaths…and so he sent in a scouting party behind enemy lines and the back of his 'fearless commander'.

The next day, a surviving scout had revealed that while the northern, eastern, and western walls were well-guarded there was a weakness in the south end, but there were a few roadblocks; first of which was that the area at the south wall was on higher ground, which meant that the guards would have a better view of whomever would try to ascend the steps. The other trouble that he had to deal with was the fact that there was a group of twelve women who guarded that wall with strange powers…he must've been talking about kunoichi. Truth be told, the rōnin had fought and killed his fair share of these women in and out of the wars he'd participated in, and so he knew firsthand how potentially powerful they were on the battlefield—not to mention how fun it would be to truly test his skills against such powerful opponents after fighting cannon fodder for so long.

When he revealed the intelligence to the commander, he simply laughed—called the rōnin a coward for even thinking of sending in scouts to divulge a weak point in the enemy's defenses. The glory hound decided to charge in and deal with those women himself, while stripping him of his armor, rank, and his weapons before relegating him to base-cleaning duties. Needless to say, that was the last he'd ever seen of the asshole; the idiot indeed went to the south end of the fortress, thinking that if those were women guarding the southern end, then he and his men should have no trouble killing them. He even boasted that they'd have prisoners of war that they could enjoy. Unfortunately for the commander, he was the first target to be cut down, apparently for opening his big, sexist mouth from what he heard…more than half of the unit was cut down in a much better way than the commander who was said to have been tortured by the women last they heard. Served the bastard right as far as he was concerned; and then the pathetic losers all broke down upon getting back, some of whom were traumatized by something.

He then went to the southern end of the fortress himself, armed with his trusty eku and bokken he'd come to the battle with, and ascended the steps. The fight was indeed a challenge; indeed these women were no stranger to combat as they were able to surround him rather quickly, and the powers he saw them use had made him act with far more caution than he normally would a normal warrior—even one that could use this energy he heard was called 'chakra'. On the other hand, he had several factors going in his favor; one of which was thanks to Yagyū-san's pointers paying off, due to the fact that he was able to output a large amount of killing intent which seemed to demoralize the women. Another was his quick learning curve and his throwing skills which allowed him to defeat each of the kunoichi one by one.

The rōnin held the advantage, but knew that all twelve of them were a cut above the average kunoichi he's ever faced. This was a challenge he thoroughly enjoyed, and so out of respect to his opponents and his Buddhist schooling, he personally saw to their burial after the battle…anyone else would've desecrated their bodies. His train of thought immediately came to a stop the second he found that he'd arrived at his destination. The patch of ground was soft, and he recognized the rock he used to mark the location of their bodies. He pulled the cork out of his gourd, and poured the sake he'd gotten from earlier into the ground—most men who enjoyed drinking as much as he did would've called it a waste, but he believed that even women at the very least deserved a taste of good sake before they left this world. He also vowed to make sure that he would come back to mark this gravesite one day.

Once he was satisfied with his sacrifice, the rōnin turned to leave the premises. He'd been out long enough. Before he could take another step, he could've sworn he felt a piercing glare from behind. "Miyamoto Musashi?"

That's odd…he was pretty sure the area was clear when he got here. From the moment he heard that voice, he could tell that this was in fact a woman. The man now known as Musashi let out a hiccup without turning to face her, creeping his hand to the hilt of his eku sheathed across his back. "If you're one of those damn tōseinin come to bother me for money, I ain't interested."

"I've heard that you killed twelve women here in today's battle," replied the woman, the coldness of her tone clear to Musashi even in his drunken haze, "twelve kunoichi who were guarding this location in between missions."

"What of it?"

"I see. Then I suppose that's all I need."

{Play: "Sad But True" by Kota Suzuki and Wataru Hokoyama from "Resident Evil 5"}

Before he knew it, Musashi's hand made it to the hilt of the eku just in time for him to swing it downward, and causing the woman to sidestep the cut only to duck under a quick swing aimed at her head when the rōnin quickly drew his bokken. Taking the opportunity afforded her by the miss, the woman jabbed her weapon into Musashi's face, which he narrowly avoided due to his drunken stupor; even while under the effects of his inebriation he identified the weapon easily by the metallic 'clink-a-clink' sound, and the length of the shaft that he'd back-flipped away from.

Upon landing, Musashi watched as the fireflies made their dance in the sky illuminating the darkened battlefield with glowing orbs of green. He soon began to take in the details about his opponent as they buzzed about—it wasn't much, but he could make out the basic contours of the woman he was fighting; namely that the weapon in her hands was quickly identified as a shakujō with a long metallic shaft judging by how straight it was. He could not see the details of her eyes, but he could tell that the look she had for him was beyond angry…there was no mistake about it, she'd come to kill him, and judging by the level of anger he picked up from her, it was personal. Did she know the twelve kunoichi he'd killed earlier in the day?

As she quickly recovered, the woman charged in and assaulted Musashi with her shakujō using wide and graceful sweeps, and the momentum of each missed swing to lash out with a wall of quick thrusts. The feeling of déjà vu he had throughout the fight made him wonder as to the identity of this woman—come to think of it, he did fight someone earlier today that fought exactly like she was now; the difference being that the moves that he was currently dodging were used on a standard-sized solid oak rōkushakubō and the highly-refined and economical movements of her attacks (no movement wasted, and done in as few attacks as possible).

There was a flash in her eyes, and Musashi had to side-step away from a pillar of flames that threatened to engulf him. Another case of déjà vu; one of the kunoichi he'd killed earlier used the exact same attack on him, but that was on a lower level compared to the one he just saw now. His suspicions as to the connection this woman had to the corpses he just paid respects to had begun to get clearer and clearer. And it was also clear to him from the get-go that the two of them were evenly-matched. He needed to end it now, before things got out of hand…and the answer came to him in the form of an idea! Hopefully, the woman would not catch on to his plans and kill him before he had an opportunity to implement it…he also prayed to Buddha and any other deity listening in on him that he would not have to resort to the plan B he had on mind.

Musashi watched as the woman charged in with the intent to kill. Just when she was a few feet away, he charged back at her while letting out a loud roar suddenly to disorient nun for a brief moment. That momentary roar also gave him the morale boost to increase the speed of his swing and force his opponent to bring up her shakujō to block his bokken, eliciting a 'clang!' and a loud 'dok' that told Musashi that this was not just a metal shaft; it was a_**solid steel**_ shaft. Nonetheless, he used the momentary pause to add more strength to his blow and push the woman away from him before using his other hand to swing his eku around in an attempt to smash his opponent and her steel rod in one go. All his efforts had been in vain at that attempt, but it still scored him his first hit given how late her avoidance of that last attack was. That also left him open, as he barely had enough time to dodge the next thrust which caused a deep gash across his chest.

Upon landing, he watched as the woman charged in to assault him with more attacks using her shakujō, and Musashi was forced to fight her off using both hands. Each swing was blocked or dodged, but it was clear that they were wearing his opponent down—thankfully, he had the stamina required to make use of such large weapons. Her speed on the other hand had made him pay for every successful hit he managed to land with the blunt force that managed to get him in his back before he managed to swing his bokken around to trip the nun, and attempt to bring his eku down and onto her head.

The woman managed to roll away, and thrust her staff into Musashi's ribs, causing the large man to recoil, drop his wooden swords, and land upon his back. It was a good thing for her that she had broken his ribs in that area. Her target remained still on the ground—good, just the way she needed him to be! The nun used what was left of her strength to pick up the shakujō on the ground and walk over to her downed opponent. The glare she leveled downward at him spoke levels of her anger. When she was certain that he was ready to be executed, the nun lifted the shakujō up, ready to bring the butt of the staff down and into his face only to notice a quick movement shortly before feeling pain as something jabbed through her abdomen. The surprise she felt at this emotion was intensified upon seeing that Musashi had taken advantage of her weariness to draw one of his wakizashi and stab herin the abdomen. It wasn't long until her exhaustion caught up to join the pain she felt that she blacked out…the shakujō falling from her hands to the side as she collapsed from the attack.

As soon as Musashi got back up, he finally regarded his opponent that he had unfairly beaten while the rays of dawn began to rise. It still wasn't a clear picture, given the amount of red he saw due to the dawn sun creeping into the area. The garb she wore was indicative that she was likely a miko, probably not too far from his age of twenty-seven, her long spiky hair ran in all directions, a necklace of six magatama was worn over her kimono. He eyeballed her height to be shorter than he was, and although it had been a while since he enjoyed the pleasures of the flesh he could tell that the measurements of her curves were the sort that any woman would sell their souls for, with a bust size just midway between modest and generous in his opinion. All in all, this was a picture of beauty in human form. Ah well, what can you do?

…

{Play: "Mononoke Hime (Instrumental)" by Joe Hisaishi from "Mononoke Hime"}

[The next day…]

The nun woke up to the sounds of birds chirping and a campfire burning, the smell of something being grilled or roasted, and the warmth of day pelting her skin with the rays of the sun. Her eyes opened up reluctantly to see the blue morning sky greeting her with few clouds. As she sat up, the nun then began to recount what had happened…she was dueling that monster Musashi, and then just as she was about to execute him, he…

"So you're awake now," said a very familiar voice, bringing her attention to its owner. Much to her anger, she saw that Miyamoto Musashi was sitting in front of a fire, cooking what appeared to be skewered lizards over a campfire. The nun was about to stand up to attack when a sharp pain attacked her side.

"You and I both know that whether or not I missed your vital organs, you are still down for the count after I stabbed you in that area," he said, not taking his attention off the lizards, "so you may as well just sit down and explain to me why you've decided to take this personally."

Seeing no other way out of this, the nun focused her ripple-patterned lavender eyes upon Musashi's back attempting to burn a hole through it. "You killed my students yesterday, and expect me to let this go you fiend?"

"This is a civil war, there are no good guys and bad guys!" shot back Musashi, turning to regard the nun, "If that's what you think, then what the hell are you doing in this shit? What are you doing bringing your students in if this is how you honor their memory?"

How dare he? He just killed her students! What right did he have to speak of them? "You speak as if you understand what we're fighting for."

"Oh but I do. I may not know you personally, but from what rumors I've heard of you, I can tell that you're not really fighting for Tokugawa because you like him. I know from looking at your pattern what you're really trying to do…and I also know that what you're trying to accomplish is impossible. You think fighting for Tokugawa is going to help make the world a better place; that he's actually fighting for peace? No dice. Sure, he may keep his promise at first, but eventually he'll come to envy you for your power and order for your death. Trust me, getting involved in war for the politics is not the way to go."

The nun said nothing…she simply thought about what he said. And by all accounts, he was right. She saw the look in Ieyasu's eyes; she knew that he wanted the Elemental Nations united under his banner. The lust he had in his eyes were both for her body and for power…but for the nun, it was merely an alliance of convenience. Little did her employer know that she had plans of her own to deal with him when the time came. Then came another question that popped into her mind. "You are known to be the kind of man who duels people to the death. Why have you spared me?"

Musashi let out a loud bark of laughter. "Because I didn't beat you with strength; I very much enjoyed our fight earlier, but if I didn't cheat, I would've died. Next time we fight, I won't be pulling any stops, but I won't cheat again." At this point, he stood up and wrapped the nun's fingers around the skewered lizard, a mirthful grin on his face as he looked at her. "And next time I fight you, I want you to be at your best."

As her enemy walked away into the daylight, the nun simply glared angrily at him. With every ounce of force she put into biting through the roasted flesh of the lizard, she promised eternal hatred against Miyamoto Musashi—that one day she would kill him or he would kill her. She would not rest until the deaths of her students had been avenged.

Neither Musashi nor the vengeful nun would see the twist that fate had in store for their story…

…

{Play: "Soldier vs. Shaman" by KONAMIJPN from "Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes"}

[Training Ground 44—present day…]

Mitarashi Anko was not having a good night…no, not at all. She was just minding her own business, enjoying a stick of quite possibly the best dango she'd ever had in the Hyūga bathhouse (made by that adorable Hinata-chan for the first time) while melting her stress away in a tub of hot water mixed in with lavender salts; she was just two minutes into her bath when she heard that that bitch Mizuki just up and stole the Forbidden Scroll from the Hokage's office.

Isn't that just bloody grand? Well, at least her job was easier; the whole village was now on lockdown, and the patrols have narrowed her possible escape route to the training grounds. Right now, Anko was searching Training Ground 44. The place occupied a space in her heart, because this was where they lost the boy she and Kasumi-nee loved with all their hearts, and yet it was also where she was counting on finding him. She often travelled to the Shi no Mori mainly to get away from the cold glares and the hateful words, but also on the off-chance that she would find Naruto-kun somewhere in these woods. Sometimes, she would also find Kasumi here—she could only guess for the same reason as she was.

Tonight however, was different; while she and Kasumi hoped to find Naruto-kun in the forest, Anko was also escorting Umino Iruka around in the forest. Umino-chan's Chūnin Exam didn't take place in the Shi no Mori, and so it was no surprise that she was not as familiar as Anko with the place. "Aren't you worried that we're going to run into the Hayashi no Oni Anko?"

Anko simply scoffed at that. "Hayami-chan was probably delirious from being sick the last time she was here! Because in all honesty, I've never heard of such a ridiculous story! An oni that lives in the Shi no Mori? Ha! Although in all honesty, I can't explain how she was suddenly cured of her sickness."

The Hayashi no Oni was a sort of hermit that lived in Training Ground 44. Nobody's heard of it until Gekkō Hayami told of her encounter a few months after Naruto-kun's abduction. It was also during this time that a wave of thefts had hit the village, taking random things from different stores—with a tool store being hit the hardest as they were robbed of all their fertilizers and gardening tools which included various kunai specially designed for gardening, machetes, and axes of all sizes. But going back to the story, Hayami-chan was out in the forest mainly in a random bout of nostalgia when she happened across a sight she never thought she'd ever see in the Shi no Mori: she found a wooden sculpture of a Buddha sitting in meditation on a lotus flower while flanked by a pair of Niō. Hayami admitted that she was no art connoisseur, but she could tell that the sculpture was made from a single piece of wood with all the proper proportions for the Buddha and exaggerated ones for his guards to make them look more intimidating. And the strangest thing of it was that there were no signs of any tool usage…as if Hashirama-sama had come back from her grave and suddenly had found the inspiration to make such a marvelous piece.

Before she could think any further of the sculptures, she'd heard the telltale sound of an axe cutting away at a tree. When she found the one making the sound, she saw that it was a kid using an axe to chop off a bumpy hunk of wood from a tree trunk. When she drew her blade with the intent to capture him for questioning; the boy seemed to have heard her, causing him to turn and face her. He was described as being well-built for a kid around seven years old at the time, and his skin had a medium tone to it. The gaki was also seen to have worn a hannya mask over his face with fake red hair pieces obscuring the rest of his head, and wore nothing but a pair of burnt orange canvas cargo shorts and shinobi sandals.

Without warning, the boy ran from her and Hayami moved in to pursue him—only to find that the boy had vanished without a trace. Suddenly, she found her ankles tied to the floor by roots that quickly stopped entwining themselves around her calves, was forced to bend backwards to avoid a pillar of wood moving upwards to punch her, and then her wrists were constricted by a pair of vines that shot up from the ground. It didn't take long for her to see the boy she was chasing start to rise up from the soil, lift his mask up such that his mouth was exposed, and then pulled himself in to plant a French kiss upon her lips. When he broke the kiss, the boy then covered his face back up, telling Hayami that her illness was cured and that if she wished to repay him, she would have to come back again another time. When asked how she was going to find him, he simply said something along the lines of 'don't try to find me; I'll find you'.

"Anyway, if we run into him, then we'll approach him accordingly," said Anko, secretly wishing that she'd be kissed in a manner similar to her former teammate, "but for now, we are looking for that bitch Mi…"

Anko's reassurance to her underclassman had come to a screeching halt as she watched Mizuki run across from her—shortly before a kid with a bokken in his hands leaped out from the bushes before slamming the blunt edge of the wooden sword downwards, denting the hitae-ate she wore on her forehead upon impact, and sending shockwaves through the poor woman's brain. The suddenness of the attack was such that even Anko herself was shocked, and to think that there was a kid this strong that was not a kunoichi was mind-bogging, and it wasn't even a girl! She then inspected the kid that intercepted their traitor—shirtless, burnt orange cargo shorts made of canvas, hannya mask with false hair pieces…yep, this was the so-called Hayashi no Oni everyone was talking about.

"Anko-san, it's good to finally see you," he said, turning to face the two of them, "I'm sorry I never had the chance to say 'hi' to your face."

Now this befuddled Anko. Who was this kid? And most importantly…"How did you know who I am?"

One could feel the grin under the mask he wore. "Contrary to what people believe, trees have ears…and eyes too if you want to be even more specific. I've watched you come to the forest from the trees scattered about the village for the past five years…primarily to look for Uzumaki Naruto, but sometimes to also read that romance novel you occasionally steal from someone called 'nai-chan when nobody's looking. "

Anko was mortified. This kid knew she'd been reading 'Nai-chan's romance novel? Did he really have a death warrant from catching her in the middle of such an act? It was at this point that she also registered that he knew about Uzumaki Naruto! And so with a suspicious look on her face, she decided to ask the million-ryo question: "Who the hell are you? And what do you know about Uzumaki Naruto?"

Playful laughter had filled the air before the Hayashi no Oni lifted his masked chin up in feigned thought. "What do I know about him?" In that moment, he pushed his mask up—eliciting a look of outright shock and elation from Anko. "I'd say I know plenty about him Anko-neechan."

She could not believe her eyes! Five years she'd been searching the forest, and she finally finds the boy she'd been looking for smiling lovingly back at her! Anko was too shocked to say anything; all those nights without her precious little brother had made her feel even lonelier, even while sharing the same bed as Kasumi-nee (a sensation that she assumed her fellow Jōnin also shared). Such was her shock that Anko barely noticed that Naruto slid his hannya mask back over his face.

Such was her shock that before Anko could say anything else, she watched as Naruto was slowly sinking into the ground. "Tell Kasumi-neechan that I'm doing well, and am happy here." he began, before realizing he'd forgotten something, "Oh yeah, and please feel free to come back whenever you want to see me…don`t bother trying to find me though, I`ll find you."

By the time her mind had caught up with the information she'd just taken in, Naruto was long gone before Anko could say another word. Turning to glance at Iruka, the silent order given to the chūnin was clear enough. With not much to say, the two women lifted Mizuki by her arms, and started to walk towards the Hokage Tower—they had a report to give out after all…

_**…**_

_**A/N: And cut. Hopefully, it'll satisfy the readers until I manage to finish the next chapter for submission. Also, I'm taking in volunteers for beta-work, so anyone who is willing to, as Russell Peters said in his joke "BE A MAN! DO THE RIGHT THING!", then I will appreciate the assistance and the collaboration. Just PM me if you're interested.**_

_**...**_

_**Vocabulary**_

_**Eku—a weapon from Okinawa that resembles an oversized oar. Users of this weapon are normally taught the bō first before handling this weapon due to the displaced weight and balance, causing them to treat it more like a naginata.**_

_**Yagyū—a very prestigious samurai family known for founding the highly fast and aggressive Yagyū Shinkage-ryū school of swordsmanship. They would eventually teach the Tokugawa shogunate.**_

_**Tōseinin—a person that has not taken up an honest living, these are typically your standard Yakuza or gamblers. Tōseinin follow a strict code of conduct, one of which being that leaving the gang you belong to requires you to cut off your pinkie finger.**_

_**Shakujo—a prayer staff…this is a pretty well-known symbol of a Buddhist monk. The staff can be long or short, bit is always described as a ringed staff. The shorter ones are normally used for prayer, but the longer ones can be used as weapons, and both are used to tell people that a monk is nearby in need of alms as well as to warn small creatures so as not to accidentally step on them.**_

_**Rokushakubō—it literally means 'six-shaku staff', a shaku being the equivalent of a foot; and so the shaft of this weapon is roughly six feet long. In all essence, this a quarterstaff.**_

_**…**_

_**Confirmed Gender-bend names: (before = after)**_

**_Sarutobi Hiruzen = Sarutobi Hiromi_**

**_Hatake Kakashi = Hatake Kasumi_**

**_Ōtsuki Hagoromo = Ōtsuki Hagakure_**

**_Shimura Danzo = Shimura Sango_**

**_Akimichi Choza = Akimichi Chō_**

**_Yamanaka Inoichi = Yamanaka Inoko_**

**_Aburame Shibi = Aburame Shizu_**

**_Nara Shikaku = Nara Chikako_**

**_Hyūga Hiashi = Hyūga Chiyaki_**

**_Hyūga Neji = Hyūga Nori_**


	3. Report

_**A/N: Before you read this chapter, and before I receive flak for inaccuracies, do keep this in mind: this story is based on "The First Male Nin" which in itself is an AU, and that there are times when even the greatest of us were not so strong and were very much human when we were younger. Also, I'm taking requests for beta-readers to this story, so anyone that wants to volunteer, do be free to do so. With that on mind, do read and review would you kindly?**_

…

[Hokage Tower—the next day…]

"…and that's the end of the story Hokage-sama."

After hearing the entirety of the Anko's account (confirmed by Iruka of course), the Hokage was stunned. After finding that Mizuki had run into the Shi no Mori after stealing the Forbidden Scroll, Iruka and Anko combed the entire forest trying to find the traitorous bitch—only to watch as the 'Hayashi no Oni' killed her with a single blow to the head using his bokken. Once he confirmed his kill, it was when the boy revealed his true identity that Hiromi was stunned: Naruto-kun was alive and happy in the Shi no Mori? All this time, he'd ironically been thriving in quite possibly the most dangerous part of the village? If it were anything else, she'd have laughed at Anko and accuse the woman of going on her drinking binges…but this was about Naruto-kun, a boy that the both of them loved. Such was her desperation to see him again that she formed a question in her mind. "Do you have any way of contacting him?"

"No Hokage-sama, he disappeared before I could ask anything of him," answered Anko, wondering where her leader was going with this, "he did however tell me that Kasumi-nee and I were free to enter the forest, and to not bother finding him…he'd find us."

She'd known her Hokage for a while now, and so Iruka knew that the slumping of Hiromi's shoulders spoke volumes of her sadness. Before long, an idea had cropped up in the Shinobi Academy instructor's ponytailed mind. "Since we already know he lives in the forest, why don't we go in there and call for him?"

{Play: "On Melancholy Hill" by Gorillaz}

Now that was a good idea! Going in there to visit the boy herself! Why hadn't Hiromi thought of that before?! "That won't be necessary Iruka-san, I decided to come for a visit anyway."

Upon hearing that disembodied voice speak, everyone to looked around until they saw a pair of arms sprouting out to grab a handhold on top of Hiromi's desk, before they pulled up their owner, sitting cross-legged in front of the old Hokage with a hannya mask worn over his head with a mischievous grin on his face. There he was…sitting cross-legged in front of her, pinning her down in her seat with his trademark vulpine charm was the boy that Hiromi loved as much as she did her granddaughter Kotone. She could not understand why she was choking so much on her words. Was it her heart beating faster than it normally did out of joy? Or did she want to scold him for not communicating with her and letting her think he'd died? In either case, she remained open-mouthed in silence for a good few minutes trying to compose her thoughts. "N-Naruto-kun?"

"Hey there, bā-chan."

That one sentence was all it took for Hiromi's decision to be made, and she decided to make her thoughts known rather quickly: she tearfully lunged forward and grabbed Naruto in a loving hug, too happy to see him again to be angry. She also noted that his body seemed to have gotten harder…stronger even. "I never thought I'd see you again!"

"I'm sorry bā-chan", said Naruto, grabbing his other grandmother figure in a hug, "I didn't want to worry you…that and I wanted to make sure that I was good to see you again."

After breaking the hug, she then decided to take a closer inspection of him. With her appraising eye, Hiromi could tell that many changes have been made to Naruto-kun over the years; his baby fat was still melting away into his early teens, and he was starting to gain muscle—but something about him seemed a bit off. She then noted that his blue eyes had a subtle green sheen mixed in. "What happened to you three years ago?"

The expression on his face seemed to slacken by a margin into a melancholic smile. "You think you can get the other clan heads together? I want to tell this to them too."

Ah! She knew that the clan heads had befriended Naruto-kun's parents…of course he'd want to see them too! That, and there was a weekly Council Meeting to be scheduled this Friday—might as well get that out of the way so that she gets a more peaceful weekend. With a nod of agreement, Hiromi pressed a button on her desk to reach her secretary. "Haruna, call in a council meeting!"

"Yes Hokage-sama!"

Knowing that she was apparently forgetting someone, Hiromi turned her attention to Anko and Iruka, both of whom were staring in confusion. "You two might as well come along. No sense in leaving you out of the loop with what you've seen."

…

{Play: "Echigoya Estate" by Noriyuki Asakura}

[Council Chambers—30 minutes later…]

The halls leading to the Council Chambers were silent, save for the rhythmic 'tack-tack' of a cane hitting the ground. Its owner was an elderly woman with a bandaged face, and a single arm—despite her injuries and being around in her seventies, one could tell that this woman was still very fit for her age, and had aged very gracefully. She was walking down the hallways with her usual cold and grim expression, as she was escorted to the Council Chambers by a pair of jōnin kunoichi—she didn't want her rival and ex-girlfriend Hiromi to have an excuse to re-disband her ROOT ANBU organization again. Seriously, what she saw in Biwako to have children with her, Sango never understood…it wasn't that she disliked the woman; quite the contrary, she thought she was a good wife to Hiromi (or 'life-partner' for those who wanted make that distinction), it's just that she envied her for being so damn lucky, and never made the mistakes she did.

Speaking of mistakes, Sango thought back to the past…she began to wonder if she'd made the right decisions, wondering if things could have been different. Her thoughts drifted to that moment where…wait a minute, what was she thinking?! With a mental slap to her face, she quashed that thought out of her head—she must not look back. Sure, she made mistakes, and the Kami willing, they were mistakes she most definitely wanted to take back…ones she wished she never did at all and knew she would regret for the rest of her life! But on the other hand, some mistakes actually brought joy to her life, and as she thought back on her time with Naruto, she could not help but to ask herself if any of her mistakes were actually mistakes at all…if that 'error in judgment' was actually the will of the divine. If it were, then what were the gods telling her; what did they want?

Her train of thought was interrupted the second she heard the doors opening. Her single eye scanned the entire council chamber; it was packed and noisy, but she could make out all the key players with her shrewd eye. To her right was the civilian council, headed by the inner circle of the merchant's guild—a collection of twelve men and women (some of whom were former kunoichi) that operated the many businesses in the village. They were a rather cunning bunch, and due to the former kunoichi among them, they had a slightly better understanding of kunoichi affairs which in turn drummed up a good amount of support from civilians in kunoichi affairs. On the other hand, a good number of the inner circle was made up of pig-headed fat-cats who cared more about the size of their wallets than the safety of their village. That, and Sago never really liked that half of the civilian council's leadership for what they'd done to Naruto quite often.

She then turned her gaze to see the kunoichi council to her left with the clan heads dispersed evenly among the most influential chakra-wielding women in the village. Now a lot of these women she could respect, as they actually knew priorities when times of war came at their doorstep. While Naruto was popular with many women in the village, not every one of them respected Mina's request to see him as a hero, and that minority went so far as to join the 'Fox Hunts' was…how should she put it; 'reprimanded' harshly for touching a hair on the boy's sun-kissed head. Sitting far back in the Council Chambers was Hiromi, who was being flanked by her former teammates Mitokado Hokuto and Utatane Koharu…all three of whom had composed the team that would be rivals throughout the Second Shinobi World War. Knowing that everything was in order, Sango allowed herself to be escorted to the shinobi side of the amphitheater—she had other things to attend to; like admiring that painting of sparrow on a bamboo branch.

As a sigh left her lips, Hiromi decided to get this over with so that she could get back to her kiseru and smoke the day away (if she was lucky, her smoking would 'accidentally' burn her paperwork to cinders—assuming Sango knew her well). "I'm sure many of you are wondering as to why I've convened this council so suddenly," she began, silencing the entire room, "but I've decided to provide a report on the theft of the Forbidden Scroll. For those of you who are not aware, the traitor Mizuki was killed with blunt trauma to her head from an ambush from our own 'Hayashi no Oni'—and yes, I've just met him today. It just so happens that we found Uzumaki Naruto in the process."

This elicited a wave of gasps from the majority of the kunoichi council.

"Naruto-kun's been found?!" shouted Inuzuka Tsume.

"Where has he been all this time?" asked Nara Chikako, masking her lust with motherly concern.

Akimichi Chō nudged her teammate before turning to Hiromi with a sincerely concerned look on her face. "Has the poor dear been starved?"

"Who was his kidnapper?" asked the voice of Uchiha Mikoto. Times had been hard for the Uchiha clan, especially given that her eldest daughter Itsuki had butchered all members of her clan save her and Suzume and a relative handful of other Uchiha that were actually kind to Naruto and were not involved in the coup. Personally, Sango would've wanted the entire clan completely destroyed, because of the abuse Naruto had experienced at the hands of her kinsmen and women (of the 10-15% of the women in the village that were cruel to Naruto, Uchihas had filled out no less than 60-75% of that number).

"Was he treated well?" seethed Hyūga Chiaki.

A pointed glare from Hiromi had silenced everyone in the council chambers. "It just so happens that he's already here, and ready to answer all your questions," she said, before turning around and looking behind her with a softened look. It was a look that Sango knew all too well whenever she was intimate with her ex-girlfriend…back when it was private of course. "Come on, they're waiting for you."

Stepping out from the curtains was the visage of a boy that Sango remembered quite well. After he was kicked out of that orphanage and given that apartment in the red light district, she'd taken to seeing him whenever she left the base for fresh air. In fact, it was always the highlight of the day for her whenever she went to that park every week or so…just seeing him really brightened her day. Even now, just seeing Uzumaki Naruto alive and well was enough to bring tears of joy to her eyes.

Before long, the entire council was abuzz with activity, but one line sounded off the loudest out of everyone else in the room: "ORDER!" called out Hiromi, earning her silence from the entire Council Chambers, "We will question Naruto-kun in a timely and orderly fashion. But questions must be answered one at a time. Now who is first?"

Yamanaka Inoko was the first to make herself known. "I was among the search party sent into the Shi no Mori to recover you, but we lost your trail after a while. Where have you been all this time?"

"I've been living in the Shi no Mori all this time," answered Naruto, "I was found by a tree spirit that lived in the forest. Since then, I've been staying with her. You'd be surprised at what she knows Yamanaka-sama—she taught me to survive in the forest among other things…"

"THE MONSTER IS GETTING TOO STRONG! WE NEED TO KILL THAT DEMON-BRAT BEFORE HE…" before the idiotic councilman could say anything else, Naruto stomped forward turning his entire leg below his knee into a kind of tree trunk that extended its roots into the ground, causing four roots shot up from the ground around the councilman before twisting and wrapping around him in such a manner that they completely covered his body. It wasn't long until his muffled screams were heard from the mass of roots until they died down slowly. By the time the roots had released their captive and shrunk back into the ground, all that was left of him were his clothes—which had bloody puncture marks on them, much to the fear of the entire audience. "And that is another gift that the tree-spirit gave me, along with allowing me to use chakra," continued Naruto, as his leg had turned back to normal, "I'm not going to tell you people exactly how I got the Mokuton; I really don't want to relive it, because it hurt like hell…but I will say I'm fair with it."

She could not believe it…Naruto-kun has gained the Mokuton? How was this even possible? What happened to the boy? Why is it that he can even use chakra in the first place?! However, Sango kept her questions sealed up nice and tight…he would reveal everything in time. Plus, it was a good opportunity to try and recruit Naruto into her ROOT program; it didn't hurt to add more attacks to his vocabulary now did it? "What are you going to do now Naruto-kun?" asked Hiromi, finally finding her voice after what she'd just witnessed.

Naruto's grin was very simple and sincere. "Nothing much, it's just that I've been charged with the protection of the Shi no Mori by the tree-spirit (whose name is Megami, by the way), and since I now live there, I am pretty much patrolling it 24/7. You might say, I'm the park ranger of the Shi no Mori."

Oh she recognized that look—it had been a while, but Sango knew when the gears in Hiromi's head were turning…that was what drew her secretly to the woman long before their former relationship was exposed. She knew that Hiromi was a rather good planner…what her ex-girlfriend had on mind, she was desperate to listen. "As good as it is to see you again Naruto, I'm afraid I can't let you leave this village willy-nilly." Now this really gained Naruto's attention as he turned around to look Hiromi straight in the eye with confusion on his features. He was frozen like a deer caught in some headlights as he waited for what it was that Hiromi-bāchan was going to say. "As of today, effective immediately, Uzumaki Naruto shall be a shinobi under the banner of Konohagakure no Sato. He shall have the same responsibilities as a kunoichi, and shall be ranked as a genin along with being assigned to a team."

"What?!" shouted Naruto, practically scandalized by what he'd just heard.

"Before you object, please hear me out," interrupted Hiromi, with a placating tone to her voice, "if the entire world finds out that you are a male that can use chakra (and I have no doubts that it will happen eventually), every kunoichi village in the world is going to make a grab for you the second they hear that you are not affiliated with any village…in other words, the second they kidnap you, they can claim that you belong to them and there won't be a thing we can do to protect you—the fact that you can use Mokuton is simply the icing on the cake. And I do suspect that if they find out about this, they're likely going to use you as a breeding stud to create kunoichi with the Mokuton you have…probably even their own shinobi. As long as you work for Konoha, we can protect you more easily; they can't just say that you are their property, because there will be legal documents that say you are a Konoha shinobi."

Ah, so that was her game! And Sango knew full well that what Hiromi said was true—were it not for the fact that she loved him so much, she'd kidnap Naruto-kun himself for the reason of using him as a stud for her ROOT agents; and then she'd pretty much have herself a garden of Mokuton-wielding operatives bred from the boy. But the problem was that she did in fact love Naruto-kun, and so it put her in a bind as to what was the right thing to do…did she want to turn the boy into a weapon, or did she want to see him happy and free in the forest?

With a sigh, Naruto knew that Hiromi was right. "Where and when do I meet?"

"In the Konohagakure Kunoichi Academy; you'll be assigned your team there," answered Hiromi with a smile.

"Okay then, if I'm going to do this, then I have a condition before you get me as a 'shinobi'."

"And what would that condition be?"

"That you let me sign your Saru Keiyaku, bāchan," began Naruto, causing everyone's eyes to widen upon hearing those words—not so much for the words, but for that request. To this day, nobody's had the balls to demand anything of a Kage…and Sango should know, because the only thing she was allowed to demand of Hiromi-chan before they broke up was for sex. "It's something I thought of; there's too little variety of animals in the Shi no Mori, so I want to have some more animals living in there to really make it thrive. And so it's become a hobby of mine to collect every summoning contract known in the world, and sign them all in order to really populate the forest."

Hiromi had to admit that it was respectable hobby, but she didn't want to have the contract signed off to him so easily. "I'll tell you what…if you manage to complete at least a C-rank mission while you're working for me, then not only will I speak to Enma about allowing you to sign the contract, but I will instantly make you into a tokubetsu jōnin with the responsibility of patrolling the Shi no Mori. Do we have a deal?"

"It's a done deal bāchan." With that said, Naruto bowed before one of his surrogate grandmother figures. It was here that she knew that

"and now, this meeting is adjourned."

The striking sound of the gavel was heard throughout the Council Chambers as Sango was escorted back to her home by the two jōnin. Many thoughts were running through her head…as well as a possible successor to her own animal contract…

…

{Play: "Evil" by Toshiro Masuda}

[Otogakure no Sato—a few days later…]

Silence filled the halls of the hidden base in Otogakure no Sato. A blessing to all of the people imprisoned in the premises, as it simply meant that there would be no experiments on live subjects for now. The screams of suffering would've broken anyone from the first week of staying in this kami-forsaken place, and so it wouldn't be a surprise if the first victims had committed suicide long ago.

However, just because live subjects were off-the-table for now didn't mean that there was no experimentation going on in the hidden base. Working away in a lab was a woman with skin as white as porcelain, lips the color of fresh blood, and hair like midnight sky. Her body was lithe and spry enough to have measurements women would kill to have, her generous bust traveled into the realm of the E-cup, and her soft almond-shaped head framed serpentine features including purple makeup emphasizing her amber-colored slit-eyes. In her hand was a test tube containing a vile-looking purple liquid that sloshed around with every spinning pass as she studied the effects of the chemical with a scrutinizing eye; the scientist in her would not rest until she found a…

"Otohime-sama!" called out a kunoichi, bowing before the pale woman, "I bring news from your spy in Konoha. She'd had a hard time getting this information, and an even harder time trying to find our contacts, but she'd managed to get it through."

Inwardly, the woman named Otohime was fuming at the disturbance, but she simply paid attention as she spun the test tube around. Hopefully, the news she was about to hear was worth the distraction. "Really, and what did she report?"

"A boy had just made it to the kunoichi ranks, being designated as a 'shinobi'. The Hokage had given him the rank of Genin."

Impossible! Boys could not be kunoichi, much less the mythical 'shinobi' of old! Sure, men born from kunoichi had chakra coils too, just not as developed as a woman's—this meant that men could not use chakra in any shape or form. Because of this fact, marriages between men and kunoichi were rarer in shinobi villages (Nadeshiko no Sato being a notable exception due to village tradition), and lesbian marriages became the requirement in all clans soon after the creation of a ubiquitous seal taught to all women the second they hit puberty that enabled them to temporarily grow male genitalia millennia ago; something that Otohime often took full advantage of before performing live experiments on other women whenever she felt her sexual frustration reach an unbearable high (sometimes even while experimenting on those women). Boys born in clans from such a union were often thrown into orphanages, or simply kept around for political marriages and other house chores no different from a maid. The more she thought of it however, she began to formulate possibilities in her mind as to the identity of the boy—she'd had her suspicions, but she wanted to know more. "Anything else she found out?"

The arousing tone served to get her attention, but the look in her mistress's eyes told her that she would be next on the live experiment front, if not the rumored torture chamber, if she got even one tiny detail wrong. The Oto kunoichi simply backed off a little bit, and gulped as she knew she had to be extra careful from this point on; she'd heard talk of Otohime torturing subordinates that had failed her miserably to death, and getting off on their screams of pain and humiliation as she molested them during said torture. "Apparently from what she heard, the spy witnessed that the boy had the ability to use Mokuton…and he demonstrated it by killing a civilian council member for shouting out for the death of a monster."

"Mm-hmm…and did she get a name?"

"I…I…I think it was…umm…Uzumaki Naruto! Yeah, that's it! The boy's name was Uzumaki Naruto!" This was it! The kunoichi shut her eyes in anticipation, awaiting whatever it was that her mistress was going to say.

Otohime simply stood there in thought…there was simply no way that Naruto-kun would be able to use chakra, much less the Mokuton! Or was there? It was not long until her train of thought had begun to race around in her head at lightning fast speeds that both the scientist and schemer in Otohime would truly come into play. Once her thoughts had come to a grinding halt, a grin had started to crease the corners of her mouth as a plan had concocted in her mind—oh, this would be the perfect revenge against Namikaze Mina for taking the seat of the Hokage from her! Truth be told, she found the young Namikaze girl to be a hot piece of ass that should not have been crowned Hokage at all…instead, Mina-chan should've been in **_her_** office, naked, and with a collar around her neck that said 'property of Otohime' with that strong and pretty Uzumaki girl she married bowing and tending to her every want and need (she would've found a way to break both, regardless of their willpower). She also figured that it'd be a good revenge against that old bat Shimura Sango for double-crossing her—oh she knew about the strained relationship she had with Mina-chan while growing up (her well-earned qualifications aside, as much as Otohime would hate to admit, how else would she have become Hokage?), and she also knew of her ties with Naruto-kun as of late…imagine the look on his face should he learn the truth about his precious **_Sango-bāchan_**! That, and she saw this as the best opportunity to be the first woman to have a baby with a boy that could use chakra; it would be three birds killed with one stone! But first, she needed more information! "That's not all is there?"

The kunoichi simply looked to her mistress with a befuddled look on her face. The silence had lasted for a few seconds until she chose the moment to speak up. "Uh…umm…yeah, the last thing your spy also reported was that he was looking to collect the summoning contracts to populate the Shi no Mori with more animals," she continued cautiously, trying hard not to make any sudden moves, while avoiding the urge to stare, "he's being placed in teams. In exchange for his employment as a Konoha shinobi, his payment would be permission to sign the Saru Keiyaku from the Hokage herself should he complete a C-rank mission. Apparently, he's looking to collect all the animal-summoning contracts and sign them all himself."

Interesting…so the little stud had a vision to collect all the animal-summoning contracts eh? Perhaps this would be a good incentive to bribe the boy into doing whatever she wanted…plus, she could use this time to follow through on her plans for Suzume-chan while also getting herself a plant to start a garden with! Otohime's steps took her in front of her subordinate, lifting her chin, and planting a kiss on her lips, initiating a dance of tongues that sent many volts of electricity up the kunoichi's mouth and into her brain, shortly before the pleasure was relayed back to the rest of her body. The second that Otohime broke the kiss, the subordinate soon started to feel a sort of withdrawal effect. "Now leave, before I decide to have even more 'fun' with you."

Taking this last line for what it was, the kunoichi left the lab and her mistress to her own devices in a run. She definitely didn't want to see her idea of 'fun' anytime soon!

_**…**_

_**A/N: As you can see, I've decided to cross this story a bit with Sengoku Basara…don't worry, you'll see more of Musashi and the Rikudo Sennin in the future, just not yet. As I've said before, don't be afraid to review; I don't want to take anymore battle-damage.**_

_**…**_

_**Confirmed Gender-bend names: (before = after)**_

**_Sarutobi Hiruzen = Sarutobi Hiromi_**

**_Hatake Kakashi = Hatake Kasumi_**

**_Shimura Danzo = Shimura Sango_**

**_Akimichi Choza = Akimichi Chō_**

**_Yamanaka Inoichi = Yamanaka Inoko_**

**_Aburame Shibi = Aburame Shizu_**

**_Nara Shikaku = Nara Chikako_**

**_Hyūga Hiashi = Hyūga Chiyaki_**

**_Hyūga Neji = Hyūga Nori_**

**_Namikaze Minato = Namikaze Mina_**

**_Orochimaru = Otohime_**

**_Momochi Zabuza = Momochi Ayaka_**

**_Gekko Hayate = Gekko Hayami_**


End file.
